# Restoring Dried Cigar Successes?



## Chod (Aug 5, 2010)

Hi guys,

I noticed some people have tried to revive/restore some old cigars. How successful were you? How did you do it?

Reason for asking is that I found 3 cigars in a zip lock bag inside a leather case in an old humidor i got at a garage sale. They seem to be relatively dried out. There seem to be many methods to restore them but I want to know which of them you used to what degree of success.

Thanks in advance,

Chod.


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Chod said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> I noticed some people have tried to revive/restore some old cigars. How successful were you? How did you do it?
> 
> ...


Never personally have had to do it. But from what i have heard the success rate is 50-50, depending on how dry they were and for how long. If the oils are gone its all over good luck.:beerchug:


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## shannensmall (Jun 30, 2010)

That's a nice find for a garage sale. Congrats!

Sorry I can't help with the gars. Look through yesterday's posts. There is a thread pretty much about the same thing.

That's a sweet lookin humi. If I may, what did you have to give for it?


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## Scardinoz (Mar 15, 2010)

I'm only judging by the splitting I see at the foot of the cigars but it looks like you have a long road ahead of you.

I have never had to do it but I think the conventional wisdom is "very slowly".


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## Entan (Jul 20, 2010)

I've restored some dried cigars with decent results by placing them in a ziplock bag which I had cut small slits into across both its surfaces. I placed this bag in a larger ziplock bag with a clean damp sponge (distilled water). I gently rotated the cigars every three days (without opening the bag). It took about two weeks to get them ready for re-introduction to my humidor.


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## youngstogiesmoker (Feb 14, 2010)

Scardinoz said:


> I'm only judging by the splitting I see at the foot of the cigars but it looks like you have a long road ahead of you.
> 
> I have never had to do it but I think the conventional wisdom is "very slowly".


Bingo. Slow is best...I'm restoring a couple and they've been the humi @ 65% for about 5 months and I havent even touched them. I may pull on out at 6 and see how it feels, but my plan is to not smoke one til the 1 year mark.

It is worth noting that mine had been without proper humidity for about 12 years at least, more like longer than that. I live in a climate where its pretty humi, 50-90%, most of the time so they didnt feel to bad.

Good luck and take it slow!


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## BKDW (Nov 7, 2009)

it depends how dried out they are. Some of them are not recoverable and must go to the cigar graveyard. Others can be recovered. Just leave them in the humidor. It should take weeks... check on them after a while. See what you get. If after a while they are still in bad condition, then, it's time for them to go.

It is a judgment call, but do let the humidor do the judging for you.

On the other hand, there were times I just knew the cigar was "dead" even before giving it humidor time. This one cigar just disintegrated in my hand after I pressed it a little.


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## Jeep (Jul 7, 2010)

I've done it and it worked perfectly. Its doable you just have to be patient.


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## Chod (Aug 5, 2010)

Thanks for the replies!

Well the ends of the cigars certainly look a bit frayed. I have no way of knowing how long they have been out of a controlled humidor. They may have been in the sun for a time too. I will go slow just to be sure.

I think I will put them into a ziplock bag with slits in it and then into my humidor for a while to let them slowly acclimate to the RH. After that I will take them out of the ziplock bag and rotate them every week for a few weeks. From there I guess I'll play it by ear and just keep an eye on them.

That method is an amalgam of other methods from this thread and other threads I have seen on these forums.

Will post pics as I go.


As for the Humi, it was 30$. In the past 2 weeks I have picked up a total of 3 humi's and they were all around the 30$ mark. I have posted pics of 2 others on my other thread in the Cigar Accessories discussion forum. There is one more that I picked up a few days ago that I haven't photo'd yet. It is a display case out of an old liquor store. It's not in the best shape, but I got it thrown in when I bought some power tools so perhaps I will use it as a restoration project. It certainly has potential.

Chod.


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## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

I've read two methods:
-Very slowly with gradual increases in RH (pretty hard even with beads and Bovedá)
-Put them in the fridge

Neither method is guaranteed and tis unlikely they will ever return to their original glory.


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## Habanolover (Feb 22, 2006)

thegoldenmackid said:


> I've read two methods:
> -Very slowly with gradual increases in RH (pretty hard even with beads and Bovedá)
> -Put them in the fridge
> 
> Neither method is guaranteed and tis unlikely they will ever return to their original glory.


Putting them in the fridge will dry them out even further.


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## thegoldenmackid (Mar 16, 2010)

Habanolover said:


> Putting them in the fridge will dry them out even further.


Yes...

I believe the method is in the crisper, in a ziplocked bag... My neighbor swears by it. I tried with both, at some point too much damage has been done and my impatience kicks in.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

I'm with Tony on this...if the cigar has lost it's essential oils and sugar and its taste you're wasting your time cuz it isn't going to be anything like it was. You can do everything right after the fact...rehumidifying slowly, etc. etc. and at best you might get back 50% of what it was which to me is like ordering Filet Mignon and getting hamburger.


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## Arnie (Jan 5, 2009)

I once lost a cooler of Puros Indios during a move and found them again a year later. Dry as a bone, they were. Well, I just stuck them in the bottom of my humi for 6 months and they smoked great! Don't give up on them.


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## Cigary (Oct 19, 2007)

Arnie said:


> I once lost a cooler of Puros Indios during a move and found them again a year later. Dry as a bone, they were. Well, I just stuck them in the bottom of my humi for 6 months and they smoked great! Don't give up on them.


Arnie...what else have you been smokin? Dry as a bone and then smoked great? :jaw::lol:


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## TonyBrooklyn (Jan 28, 2010)

Cigary said:


> Arnie...what else have you been smokin? Dry as a bone and then smoked great? :jaw::lol:


Probably like one of those dry cured cigars from Europe!:lol:


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## dave8274 (Mar 6, 2007)

I was given a bone dry RyJ once.. no idea which one. I put it in the bottom of my humidor and forgot about it for a couple years. When I re-discovered it last month it was cracked in several places and I tossed it.


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## Arnie (Jan 5, 2009)

Cigary said:


> Arnie...what else have you been smokin? Dry as a bone and then smoked great? :jaw::lol:


Yup, after 6 months re-hydrating.


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## Arnie (Jan 5, 2009)

Cigary said:


> Arnie...what else have you been smokin? Dry as a bone and then smoked great? :jaw::lol:


I dunno, I just can't seem to find the right forum here for all the other stuff I've been smokin'.


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## Johnny Rock (Jun 25, 2010)

I found an old jewelry box in my wife's closet last year that contained a ziplock bag with 3cigars. These cigars have been in there for at least 22 years. One of them was in a tubo from 1983, my daughters birthday, the other two in cello from 1988, my sons birthday.

I unpackaged then carefully and to my suprise they smelled great. Still had a very nice barnyard aroma.

I placed them in a humidor that I used for dry boxing for about 3 months to mingle with some other sticks. They came out great.

For the last nine months they have been in my main humi, which I keep at around 65% H, or less, and are still looking good.

I don't really care how they taste when I finally smoke them, only that they are smokeable when my kids get married.

I check them every now and then, they still look pretty damn good, and smell nice and stinky too!


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## veteranvmb (Aug 6, 2009)

Ive definately have revived thirty year old cigars that have been unprotected for the most part. 
I have put them into a 60 rh humi for around 3 months, and then a month or two in 65 and then a month or two at 70, and they have become very smokeable and smooth. 
You would never had known they were that old. 

About 7 out of 10 become very smokeable. Some just start cracking too much. 

Much regards Jerry


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## MrMayorga (Feb 14, 2008)

I bought a box of Quintero's that JR had on closeout back in 2002. I only had two 50 count humi's at the time and had no room to put them in. They sat in my hobby room (still in the plastic wrap) which sets below grade and hangs between 50 to 75% RH, and 60 to 75 degrees. Last year I cracked the box open and tried one (about 7 years old). It tasted very bland and tasteless. I figured it wouldn't hurt to try to revive them, so I tossed them into a coolerdor for awhile and tried one after about 6 months in a controlled environment. It still tasted bland and tasteless. I again tried another one about 3 months ago and was surprised to see that even though it was bland it was getting better. I then moved them into my Vinotemp. I had one a couple of weeks ago and it wasn't too bad. Not as good as a fresh one but at least it had some taste to it and are now at least smokeable. I'm going to give them some more time and see what happens to them. 

To some it up, I took a chance and it payed off. You have the cigars and it won't cost you anything but time to try and revive them. Just make sure that you take at least a year to see if it works out. Good Luck!


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## Shaz (Oct 10, 2008)

If those Montes are genuine, what's there to lose in not trying? At least your not trying to revive a dog turd. I think a gradual increase in rh is the way to go. I would use an unseasoned small humi and put in a few cigars in from your regular humi with the dry ones. After a couple of days, put the regular cigars back in your humi and replace them with new ones from the regular humi. Keep increasing the amount of new cigars from your regular humi until the small humi is full. At this point, if you have 60% beads, I would introduce that and move up to 65% or your regular humidor and leave them there for as long as your curiosity will allow.
Either that or slide a lady finger in it and gift it to someone you don't like.:mischief:


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## Chod (Aug 5, 2010)

Shaz said:


> If those Montes are genuine, what's there to lose in not trying? At least your not trying to revive a dog turd. I think a gradual increase in rh is the way to go. I would use an unseasoned small humi and put in a few cigars in from your regular humi with the dry ones. After a couple of days, put the regular cigars back in your humi and replace them with new ones from the regular humi. Keep increasing the amount of new cigars from your regular humi until the small humi is full. At this point, if you have 60% beads, I would introduce that and move up to 65% or your regular humidor and leave them there for as long as your curiosity will allow.
> Either that or slide a lady finger in it and gift it to someone you don't like.:mischief:


Not sure if they are genuine, but I have no reason to doubt it so nothing to lose by giving it a shot.

I have started by acclimatizing them to room humidity levels. They were in a dry humidor, so i cut the zip lock bag a little and have left them in room humidity which is somewhere around 50-60%. In a few days I will put them in the bag in a seasoning humidor.


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## Shaz (Oct 10, 2008)

Chod said:


> Not sure if they are genuine, but I have no reason to doubt it so nothing to lose by giving it a shot.
> 
> I have started by acclimatizing them to room humidity levels. They were in a dry humidor, so i cut the zip lock bag a little and have left them in room humidity which is somewhere around 50-60%. In a few days I will put them in the bag in a seasoning humidor.


Can you get a good close up photo of the band? Also the length and ring guage.
I think there's enough experts on here that can help identify the authenticity. You may have to post on the Habanos section possibly. Don't know?

Just realized you don't have enough posts to post in the Habanos section.


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## Chod (Aug 5, 2010)

Well after a slow acclimatization period, I have put these cigars in a humi pouch. They can stay there for a few weeks before i put them in my humidor. So far they don't seem to have changed much but time will tell.


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## Entan (Jul 20, 2010)

Chod said:


> Well after a slow acclimatization period, I have put these cigars in a humi pouch. They can stay there for a few weeks before i put them in my humidor. So far they don't seem to have changed much but time will tell.


It can take several months before you will see/taste a change. The few cigars I'm restoring are looking pretty good after 3 months in the humidor now but I won't be touching them for a long while. I wish you the best of luck in getting some life back into these sticks as they look like good smokes.


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## Chod (Aug 5, 2010)

Entan said:


> It can take several months before you will see/taste a change. The few cigars I'm restoring are looking pretty good after 3 months in the humidor now but I won't be touching them for a long while. I wish you the best of luck in getting some life back into these sticks as they look like good smokes.


Thanks. I am in no rush. This is more of an experiment then anything else. Since there are three cigars, i will try them at different intervals (3 months, 6 months and 12 months maybe?) so i know next time what works best and how much of a difference there is.


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## jclark0808 (Sep 17, 2010)

I had a question about this... I came upon a brand new box of Partagas Mille Fleurs about 2 years ago... I thought I'd lost them, so when I finally got a humidor about 6 months ago, I was kind of bummed out:violin:... well... I finally found them and I'm really happy about this... except I'm worrying about the restoration process... I'm still kind of new at this, and I don't want to waste any cubans, since they're hard to come by for me, so I just wanted some input...

Facts:

I had them in a Humidor bag about 4 days after I got the box. The humidor bag was "The Humidor Bag" (lol) Arturo Fuente... Supposed to keep it humidified for 6 months. They've been in there for roughly 2 years now, so subtract 6 months from that and you have ~18 months where they were in the humidor bag without a functioning Humidipak. 

Here's the element though... I had lost track of this Humidor Bag about 1 month after I put them in there... aka, that was the last time it was open. They have been in the Humidor bag, airtight for almost 2 years. I just opened the bag, the cigars feel dry, and a little hard, but they still have some springy-ness to them. Also, they're not cracked, and they still stink so good.

How severely dry do you reckon these are? And how much caution should I exercise when re-hydrating them? On that note, can I just put them in my humidor and hope they'll be fine?

Please let me know, Thanks!!!


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## DFisk (Jul 27, 2010)

Just your luck. This was cheaphumi's newsletter for this week. I don't know if it will work on 3yr old cigars. But You can give it try.


It has happened to all of us at one time or another. You simply
forgot about that nice box of stogies you had in the trunk of your
car for 3 months...well, hopefully not that long. I always get
asked what you can do to restore dried cigars.

The most important thing to remember is that restoring a dried
cigar takes time--lots of time and patience. Don't be in a hurry to get the job done.

Step 1:
Put your cigars in a non-humidified humidor. If this doesn't exist, then you can use a Ziploc bag with some holes poked in it. You want to bring the cigars to a steady humidity level that is much less than 70 percent. Let them sit in this environment for about 2-3 days.

Step 2:
Dampen a fresh, clean sponge with distilled water. Place it inside
the Ziploc bag, and allow it to sit there, not touching any cigars, for at least one more week. This will slowly add humidity to the cigars at a rate that will prevent the wrappers from bursting.

Step 3
After two weeks, your cigars should start to look a lot healthier.
Put them in your charged, maintained humidor at this point. Don't
smoke them yet. Let them rest for while. I would suggest a month or two, just to make sure things are back to normal. Then you can feel free to smoke to your hearts content.


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## Chod (Aug 5, 2010)

Just an update. Have been away for a while.

I have left my 3 monte's in a humipack for the past 2 months. I am going to put them into the humidor for the next 3 months. They look a whole lot better already!


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## dasronin (May 31, 2010)

thegoldenmackid said:


> I've read two methods:
> -Very slowly with gradual increases in RH (pretty hard even with beads and Bovedá)
> -Put them in the fridge
> 
> Neither method is guaranteed and tis unlikely they will ever return to their original glory.


My brother-in-law gave me some cigars he had possibly during a deployment. He kept them in a ziplock bag in his refrigerator. When he told me he had then and I could have them I figured they would be dry.

They were damp. I could have wrung them out and left a little puddle! I had to toss them.


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## Entan (Jul 20, 2010)

dasronin said:


> My brother-in-law gave me some cigars he had possibly during a deployment. He kept them in a ziplock bag in his refrigerator. When he told me he had then and I could have them I figured they would be dry.
> 
> They were damp. I could have wrung them out and left a little puddle! I had to toss them.


It depends on how old the fridge is. Old refrigerators were pretty humid, which led to ice build up. Newer ones keep the humidity low so as to avoid ice build up on the sides of the fridge and the food. These are what other posters are referring to when they say that it will dry out cigars.


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